Cala will grow its former Midlands operating area to include Wiltshire, Vale of White Horse and Oxfordshire

Cala has announced it is expanding its former Midlands regional business into Wiltshire, the Vale of White Horse and Oxfordshire under the new brand of Cala Cotswolds.

Cala Cotswolds office_Andy Dicker

MD of Cala Cotswolds says the business is at a ‘pivotal point’

The branch of the Cala Group is currently restricted to Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and Solihull, and has built 1,800 homes in those areas since 2016.

The expansion will see it move its head office from Solihull to Oxford Technology Park and the new business plans to add 1,300 new homes to its pipeline over the next three years. 

Andrew Dicker, managing director of Cala Cotswolds, which used to be called Cala Midlands, said: “We’re at a pivotal point as a business having identified significant potential for growth across Oxfordshire, as well as Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and Solihull. 

“Moving our base to Oxfordshire is going to be transformative – putting us at the heart of a region that has strong public and private sector support for economic growth, including housing.”

The Cala group, which has been wholly-owned by Legal & General Capital since 2018 and reported last year it had tripled its revenue after a pandemic ‘dip’, expects to deliver more than 3,000 homes across the group this year.  

Dicker added: “We are actively seeking to build on our existing investment in the region by sourcing more land. Our focus is on sites in towns and larger villages with the capacity for 50 homes or more where, through our value-add approach and industry-leading design, we can deliver desirable, high-quality developments.”

Cala Cotswolds’ developments include consortium projects such as the 1,239-home Nobel Park in Didcot, where Cala Cotswolds has already begun development work under its sister brand, Legal & General Homes. 

The regional branch will also be delivering 28 homes at its site in Alderton, Gloucestershire, using timber frame construction, which will be a first for the business in England. 

To support its expansion, Cala recently appointed to the business Caroline Owen as senior planning manager and Luke Alexander as land buyer. The housebuilder is currently recruiting a land and planning director to be based in the Oxfordshire office.